Gayle King is keeping a 12-year-old tradition alive.
King, 69, celebrated her 12th anniversary on CBS Mornings on Tuesday, January 9, by wearing the same yellow and white color-block Alexandra Kramer dress she wore on her first day exactly 12 years before.
As longtime viewers of CBS Mornings might already know, this is an annual tradition that King has maintained for the past 12 years. Every year on January 9, King breaks out the now-famous yellow dress as a way of commemorating her time on the show.
“I knew I wanted to wear yellow on my first day because it’s my favorite color,” King said during Tuesday’s show. “And I said, ‘I’m going to wait and see if I’m still here and then I’m going to wear it again.’ 12 years later, here we are! Still psyched to be sitting here.”
On the same day, CBS Mornings shared an Instagram photo of King posing next to screenshots of every year she has worn the dress on the show, from 2012 until the present day. They captioned the photo: “12 years of our favorite dress! Happy anniversary @GayleKing 💛.”
King also marked the special occasion on her Instagram page. In a carousel posted on Tuesday, January 9, King was all smiles as she laughed and posed with her colleagues Tony Dokoupil, Nate Burleson and Vladimir Duthiers in the sunny yellow dress. In one photo, Duthiers, 54, carried out a plate of cupcakes to King to congratulate her on 12 years.
King captioned the post: “12 years today and still sitting in the @cbsmornings chair in the upright position! I think I have one of the best jobs in morning day cause I get to start my day with these three guys @tonydokoupil, @nateburleson, @vladduthierscbs !”
Despite King’s long career in TV, retirement appears to be the last thing on her mind.
While accepting the Journalist Icon Award at TheGrio’s Washington D.C. Gala in April 2023, King revealed that she has no plans to slow down any time soon. “I stand before you at 68-years-old. Walter Cronkite had to retire from CBS at 65… He didn’t have a choice,” she said, adding, “I’m not even kind of thinking about retiring. Not even kind of! I’m looking for more work.”
